¡Vale, vale, venga! Jessica's Granada Adventures: The rain in Spain...

...does NOT fall mainly on the plain. Granada is in a very mountainous area and let me tell you, the rain is definitely falling.

I've been in Spain for a whole week! Okay well technically a week ago I was still flying here, but that practically counts. It has been a crazy first week for sure.

The week was full of walking tours or "paseos" all around the city. Over the week, went to a ton of plazas, saw the Universidad de Granada, went to the old part of the city, toured el Catedral and la Castilla Real, climbed up a mountain and got a great view of the city and the Alhambra... it was quite a week! We also visited the Museum of the Memory of Andalusia, which is in a very modern part of the city. There we learned all about the history of Andalusia, which was good because now we know the context behind all of the historic buildings we've been visiting.

We also started our intensive class this week. I'm taking "Spain in the 21st Century: Building Bridges." We're going to learn a lot about the history of Spain (mostly in Andalusia) and see how it is still applied to life today, all while preparing for our placement test at the end of the month. The class seems really interesting, but more work than I think any of us were expecting! I've already written two papers for the class! (They were short, but they still count!) The class is only about three weeks long, so I guess everything has to be crushed into the small time period. It's a little hard to admit that we are here to study and learn, and not just tour and have fun.

During the first week here I also got to check out some tapas bars with some other students from the group. Tapas bars are fantastic because when you order a drink, you get a free tapa (sort of like an appetizer portion of awesome food)! My favorite tapa is still tortilla española, which I discovered the first time I was in Spain (and I've probably had about five times since landing). The sangria in Granada so far has also been very good!

I've been spending a lot of time with my host mom, Ana, whenever I've been in our apartment. She is really fantastic--so flexible about our meal schedule and loves chatting! Unfortunately the conversations are still mostly one-sided, as Dana and I are much better and understanding Spanish than speaking it, but I'm sure that will change soon. Ana has been teaching us new words, as well as Spanish customs such as not saying "gracias" after every thing she does for us. Ana lives alone, but her two grown daughters come and stay with her sometimes, and I'm really looking forward to getting to know them, too!

Tomorrow we start a full week of class, which may be a little weird after all the excursions and activities. Wednesday, though, we are visiting the Alhambra, and Saturday we have a day-trip to nearby Ronda, so it will definitely not be a boring week!